


Star-Crossed Meeting

by Switch_Star



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Cute Kids, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 21:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17568050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Switch_Star/pseuds/Switch_Star
Summary: Kanata is taken to the park to play by himself, but meets and interesting friend that surprising knows what it's like to be alone.





	Star-Crossed Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah as you can tell I suck at summaries but thanks for clicking on this fic. I really love this rare pair and hope that you love it too! It's all a part of my plan to fill the Tsumugi/Kanata tag and hopefully more people will write about this ship.  
> Anyways, enjoy the fic!
> 
> Edit: Also for anyone who might be confused as to why Kanata has a caretaker, there are speculations that his parents might be yakuza. So someone needs to watch him and his parents are probably too busy to.

Saturdays were always busy, yet Kanata’s parents always made time to take him to the park in the afternoon. Even if they themselves did not accompany him. He had a caretaker that would always pick him up after he had lunch and take him to the park that wasn’t far from his home. Kanata would always bring his favorite stuffed turtle with him whenever he went out. Mr. Bubbles had been with him since the day he was born and has never left his side. His was the closest thing that Kanata had as a friend. He did have one other, but he never came around that often. Only when a man in a blue uniform would show up at his house would his friend appear to play with him.

Kanata stared out the window of the car, watching as he passed by trees that were just beginning to blossom. It would be awhile before spring would come and before he knew it the trees would explode into beautiful pastel colored flowers. That was his favorite part of springtime, that going to the ocean. It was still a bit cold but it was warm enough that his parent would let him play in the sand and watch the waves crash up against the coast. Those days didn’t seem to come as often as they use to, not since he entered grade school. His parents began to drift away and so did the fun times as well. 

Kanata buried his face into Mr. Bubbles as the car came to a halt. He had arrived. The caretaker opened the door and lifted Kanata from his car seat. To get to the park you had to walk through a long pathway of trees that lined the sidewalk. Just like the trees he had passed earlier, they had not bloomed yet, but they were close. Once he passed through the trees he could see the playground in his sight. Children covered the entirety of the jungle gym with their parents all sitting to the side watching them play. A small group had gather on the sidewalk drawing pictures birds, flowers and trees with chalk sticks. Another group was playing tag in a large open field. Kanata’s eyes glimmered as he watched the children chased after each other with large smile on their faces. He really wanted to join them.

However, his wish was foiled as his caretaker took him to the other side of the field and set him down. Placing Mr. Bubbles next to him, he stalked off to a nearby bench and pulled out a book. Kanata pulled Mr. Bubbles close to him and watched the other children on the other side of the field laugh and scream as they were each chased. His heart ached as he longed to be with them. He looked back at his caretaker and flinched. He was watching him intently giving him a  _ don’t you dare run off  _ look. Kanata sighed. There weren’t many times where he could get past the man and if he did he would be found almost instantly. He perched Mr. Bubbles up in his lap so that he was facing him.

“He never plays with me and always says I’m not allowed to play with other kids,” Kanata said.

The turtle did not answer. 

“He always sits somewhere faraway and reads books. Always telling to play by myself and to not run off.”

The turtle did not respond.

“I hate it.”

Kanata flopped onto his back and held Mr. Bubbles over his face blocking the sun. He stared intently into the eyes of his turtle as if he was waiting for an actual response. The turtle however said nothing but plaintently stared back at him with lifeless eyes. Yes, he was truly the only friend that Kanata had, but he never felt like enough. Kanata rolled onto his side and stared at his caretaker. He was staring down at his book barely paying any mind to him. How Kanata really wanted to bolt right at that second. However, he surely believed that his caretaker had a sixth sense, because everytime he would make a run for it he would look up just in time to run after him. Even out in the open world Kanata still felt trapped like he was suffocating in a cage. One that he did not know how to escape from.

Kanata looked over at the entrance of the park and saw a women will long dark blue hair pulled into a braid come through. She was holding a child, a boy, around his age. He had the same dark blue hair as her but it was much shorter. His golden eyes had a sad look to them as she carried him through the park. Then she turned towards where Kanata and his caretaker were and began heading in their direction. She stopped about two benches down from where his caretaker sat and set down her child. With him, she also set down a large tote bag she had been carrying and motioned the boy to look through it. With much enthusiasm the boy immediately started going through the bag. Finally, after a few moments he pulled out a blue book with a few pictures on the cover. The women was just about to sit down when Kanata heard a phone began to ring.

The look on the boy’s face immediately fell as he tried to grab her attention. To no avail she answered her phone. Nothing seemed to get to her after that as she began to stalk off to a more quieter place in the park. The boy crawled off the bench and tried to follower her. Kanata was too far away to hear but as the boy approached her she turned around told him something that made him rushed back to the bench. It almost seemed like she had yelled at  him to go back to the bench. The woman walked out of sight and the boy was left alone. Kanata glanced over to his caretaker who had not seemed to notice the whole ordeal. He glance back at the boy who looked like he had become teary-eyed as he opened the book he had tried to get the woman to read to him. 

“He’s alone too,” Kanata said.

Suddenly, he heard another phone ring. He looked up to see his caretaker scrambling through his pockets until he finally pulled out his cell phone and answered it. Whoever he was talking to must have been pretty important because he wasn’t paying any attention to Kanata at the moment. That’s when Kanata’s face brightened. He wasn’t paying attention, this was his chance. Though, he knew he wouldn’t be able to make it over to the children that were playing tag without him noticing. Then he glanced over at the boy from earlier. The woman had not yet returned and he was still sitting on the bench by himself. It was decided Kanata knew what he wanted to do. He got up slowly on his hands and knees as to not to be noticed by his caretaker. Then he quickly crawled over to the boy on the bench.

When Kanata reached him he hadn’t seemed to notice him as he stared down intently at his book. Kanata couldn’t see the cover very much but he could tell it was blue and had something to do with the sea. This got him a little excited as walked closer to the boy. Finally, we was close enough to get a glance inside of the book. It was beautiful. There were painted pictures of fish, coral and even sea turtles scattered across the page. The background was a deep blue color and small glittery bubbles were dotted across the page. Kanata couldn’t help but smile as he looked at it.

“Who are you?”

Kanata looked up and had seen that the boy had finally taken notice to his presence. He had a teary look in his eyes and he scooched himself a little bit further up onto the bench. Kanata could tell that he was a little shy so he smiled warmly in hopes that the boy would more at ease. He could see the boy relax a little and the tear look in his eyes faded. That was when he took his chance to make a new friend.

“Hi, my name is Kanata,” he said “What’s your name?”

The boy smiled back almost as warming as Kanata did.

“My name is Tsumugi.” he said shyly.

Kanata smiled. 

“How old are you?” he asked. “I’m seven.”

“I’m seven too.”

“We’re the same age!” Kanata cheered. 

Tsumugi nodded with delight. Kanata crawled up onto the bench next to Tsumugi and glanced down at his book once again, mesmerized by the pictures that appeared in it.

“What book are you reading?” Kanata asked.

“It’s called A Big Blue World. It’s about a school of fish that takes a field trip through the ocean and they see a lot of really pretty things.”

Kanata’s eyes lit up as he scooted closer to Tsumugi, gripping Mr. Bubbles tightly in his arms. Tsumugi glanced over at him and his eyes landed on the stuff turtle.

“What’s that?” he asked.

Kanata’s smile widen as he held his toy out to show his new friend.

“This is Mr. Bubbles!” he exclaimed. “I named him that because when I went to the aquarium the turtles would make a lot of bubbles!”

Tsumugi giggled.

He opened the book and the two began to read through it pointing out all the colorful fish and plants that could be seen. Soon they finished it Tsumugi pulled another book out from the tote bag. That one was about a bird that couldn’t find his siblings and he went on an adventure to reunite with them. 

After they had read through four books Kanata was filled with so much joy finally having a friend to spend time with him. Though, when he glanced over at Tsumugi he could see tears falling from his eyes. Kanata began to panic. What had he done wrong? He had been kind to Tsumugi the entire time and couldn’t think of a reason as to why the boy would be crying. 

“Tsumugi-chan,” Kanata said.

Tsumugi turned to Kanata. His face was stained with tears and eyes were red. He quickly turned back around and hid his face into his sleeve. 

“What’s wrong?” Kanata asked.

Tsumugi didn’t answer, his sniffles muffled by the sleeve of his shirt.

Kanata stared at him, he didn’t know what to do in a situation like this. He’d never been in a situation where he had to comfort someone. He began to think of things that made him feel better when he was sad. He looked down at his lap where Mr. Bubbles was sitting. Mr. Bubbles was his go to thing for comfort. Whenever he was sad he’d hug him real tight and all his sadness would melt away. Maybe it would work with Tsumugi.

“Tsumugi-chan,” Kanata said.

Tsumugi didn’t look at him, his face was hidden in his sleeve. Kanata held Mr. Bubbles up to face and pressed him against him. Tsumugi didn’t react much so Kanata tried again, softly pressing Mr. Bubbles against Tsumugi‘s face. Finally, Tsumugi turned back to Kanata. His face looked even more miserable than before. Tears were streaming down his face, his face and eyes were all red and his nose was dripping with snot. 

“You seem really sad right now and I don’t like it when people are sad.” Kanata said. “When I’m sad I hug Mr. Bubbles real tight and I tell him what makes me sad. So if you want to hold Mr. Bubbles you can.”

Tsumugi stared at him for a second then slowly reached out and took Mr. Bubbles. He held him tightly against his chest.

“I don’t like it when mommy yells at me or when she is always on her phone. I wish she would sit with me and read books with me and spend time with me.” 

His voice began to tremble.

“I wish daddy would come home more I never get to see him and I wish big brother would play with me because I miss playing with him.”

Kanata had never seen Mr.Bubbles squeezed so tightly before but he wasn’t so concerned about that but more of Tsumugi. His face was drenched in tears and snot, so Kanata pulled out a handkerchief that his mom had given him and handed it to Tsumugi. The boy didn’t take it at first, but Kanata urged him to take it. Tsumugi grabbed the cloth and blew his nose into it. It didn’t help much but a least the snot was all gone. His tears were still prominent as they continued to slide down his face. At that point Kanata wasn’t sure what to do to make his new friend feel better. Everything that he could think of he tried and it all worked with him, so shouldn’t have worked from Tsumugi too? He felt at a loss, here he had made a new friend and he couldn’t even figure out how to make him happy.

Then Kanata remembered the book Tsumugi had tried to get his mother to read with him. It still sat next Tsumugi, opened to a page with some pretty plants and fish. Kanata reached over Tsumugi to grab the book. He hadn’t gotten the handle of reading big words just yet, but the book looked to have some pretty simple sentences and the kanji had the phonetic spellings above them. 

“One morning the little green fish woke up happy and excited,” Kanata read.

Tsumugi ceased his crying, staring in confusion at Kanata. He could tell that he was having a little trouble with the phonetic pronunciations with a lot of the words. Though Kanata kept kept going determined to make his new friend happy.

“That day his class was going on a field trip. The little swam down stairs to say goodbye to his parents as he left for school.”

Then Kanata could feel someone lean against him. He looked, it was Tsumugi. The boy had stopped crying and was diligently listening to Kanata as he shakely read out the words. Kanata could get the feeling that Tsumugi felt happier when stories were read to him. He continued on through the story as he read about how the little green fish and his class visited the great barrier reef, met a variety of different sea creatures and helped a baby seahorse find his family. At the end of the story Tsumugi’s face was mostly dry and he had seemed to calm down.

“I’m sorry if my reading was bad,” Kanata apologized.

Tsumugi whipped his head around to Kanata and shook his head.

“No, it was really good. This book can be hard to read because it has a lot of different words in it,” Tsumugi said.

He was smiling again, like he was before when he was talking about the book himself. Kanata liked his smile, it was sincere and calming. Tsumugi himself gave off a very calming feeling when he was happy. Which is why it hurt Kanata to see him so upset.

“I get sad too sometimes,” Kanata said. 

“Huh?”

“Mommy and daddy don’t spend a lot of time with me. They always send someone to take me places instead of coming with me.”

“Don’t you have a brother or sister?” Tsumugi asked.

Kanata shook his head.

“No, it’s just me, mommy and daddy and the people who take care of me.”

Tsumugi seemed surprised at Kanata’s words. He so use to seeing other children with there parents that he didn’t think that there were other kids like him. Though, he didn’t quite understand what he meant by “the people who take care of him,” but he felt like it wouldn’t be appropriate to ask. 

“Do you want to me to read you another book?” Kanata asked.

Tsumugi shook his head.

“How about I read one?”

Kanata nodded with excitement. It wasn’t often that he had book read to him, he was always left to read them on his own so having some read one for him sounded exciting. Tsumugi handed Mr. Bubbles back to Kanata and reached into the tote bag pulling out a different book. It was green and blue and had pictures of flowers on the cover. He began to read and Kanata was mesmerized. Tsumugi’s voice was so smooth when he read, he didn’t once stutter over his words nor did he have any trouble reading the phonetic spellings. Kanata was almost jealous of how well Tsumugi could read. 

As he continued with the story Kanata could hear the sound of crunching gravel coming towards them. Afraid that it might have been his caretaker coming to bring him back he shot his head up only to see the women that was with Tsumugi earlier. She looked different close up, less scary than when Kanata first saw her from a distance. Her eyes were a bit brighter than Tsumugi's sad looking eyes, but their hair was practically the same. Except her seemed more straight than Tsumugi’s and more neat, less wild. 

“Mommy!” Tsumugi said. 

He jumped off the bench and grabbed a hold of his mother’s waist burying his face into her sweater. Tsumugi’s mother patted his head and ran her fingers through his curly locks. She knelt down and wiped Tsumugi’s face aware of the tears stains that were left. 

“Tsumugi, mommy’s sorry she left you earlier that call was really important and I needed to take it,” she said.

Tsumugi nodded. He didn’t seem to care about before but seemed happy that his mother had returned to him. Kanata felt a little jealous, seeing Tsumugi’s mother embrace him he would have given the world of his mother would do the same. Then he felt eyes on him and not the good kind. Looking back at to where he was prior he could see that his caretaker noticed his absence and had spotted him. Kanata scrambled off the bench and latched himself onto Tsumugi who was unaware of his fear.

“Oh?” Tsumugi’s mother said. “Who is your friend Tsumugi?”

Tsumugi’s face brightened even more.

“This is Kanata he read books with me while you were gone. He has a stuffed turtle named Mr. Bubbles and he let me hold him.”

Out of the corner of his eye Kanata could see the man walking towards them. He didn’t want to leave yet he wanted to spend more time with Tsumugi. Why was he never allowed to have friends, especially since he parents were never around. He refused to let this one slip away. 

“Excuse me ma’am.”

It was him. Kanata glared at the man as he scrunched himself against Tsumugi. Tsumugi’s mother seemed to tense as he approached. Kanata could understand why his caretaker was there to babysit him and to also protect him. Being intimidating was a part of the job not to mention you had to be deceiving too. 

“Can I help you sir?” she asked nervously. 

“Yes, I’m afraid that the child I’m watching had wondered over here,” he gestured to Kanata who was still glaring at him. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said with a bow. “I didn’t mean to keep him from you.”

“It’s alright ma’am, but we’ll be taking our leave now. Young master let’s go.”

Kanata didn’t move, he didn’t want to to he wanted to stay with Tsumugi and to read more books and to talk about Mr. Bubbles. Tears started to well up in his eyes as he stared down the man. 

“No, I don’t want to leave.” Kanata said. “I want to stay and play with Tsumugi-chan!”

The man sighed. “Young master we must return home, please do not make a scene.”

Oh, he’d make a scene if he wanted to. He’d cry, scream, kick and lay limp if he had to if it meant he could stay with Tsumugi. So he started wailing, very loudly. Tsumugi jumped at the sudden noise and Tsumugi’s mother tried to calm the boy as the man pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. He really didn’t want to deal with Kanata's crying, but it was his job and he had to do it. People were starting to stare as the man walked over and scooped Kanata up off the ground. 

“I’m sorry for the trouble my Young master might have caused you.”

The man bowed then began to make his way towards the parking lot. All the while Kanata was still sobbing as he watched Tsumugi give a reluctant way goodbye. He waved as well as he watched his new friend disappear behind a line of unbloomed trees. There went any chance he had at a real friendship.

Kanata cried all the way to the car still hoping that maybe his caretaker would feel sorry for him and take him back to Tsumugi but to no avail. The man opened the door to the car and began to strap Kanata into his car seat. At that point his wails had devolved into small sniffles and cries. There was not point in crying anymore, he had lost once again. Squeezing Mr. Bubbles Kanata repeated Tsumugi’s name over and over again as to not forget it. To him Tsumugi was different from the other children he tried to befriend, he understood what it was like to be lonely, just like Kanata. 

As the car pulled away from the park he promised to himself that would never forget Tsumugi. For if he ever met him again they could still be friends. 

_ Yeah we’ll definitely meet again. _

It was all clear in his mind, he would see Tsumugi again and then they would pick up where they last left off. By reading books and talking about Mr. Bubbles. Kanata’s eyes began to flutter as he felt the motion of the car gently rock him. Closing his eyes he wished to dream about Tsumugi and about all the adventures they would go on with just the two of them.

  
  



End file.
